Fluke tester can be bought, which is more expensive, and can also be rented from local businesses that make network products.
The quality of network cables can also be identified by the following methods:
1, test the network cable speed.
Testing the transmission speed of network cable is the most effective means to identify the authenticity of network cable quality; In order to be closer to the actual use environment and reduce external interference, it is suggested to use the method of direct connection between two computers. At the same time, in order to ensure the accuracy of the test, try to use a brand network card with good quality to ensure that there will be no hardware bottleneck during the test; At the same time, we must ensure that the computer system is clean and fast, otherwise the running speed of the computer itself will affect the transmission speed of the network cable. In addition, when connecting the network cable, try to use a good quality crystal connector and ensure the standardization of the connector. Only in this way can the influence of external factors on the transmission speed of network cable be minimized.
2. Check the flexibility of the network cable
A good quality network cable is designed with the convenience of wiring in mind, as flexible as possible, convenient no matter how it is bent, and not easy to break. At present, many profiteers in the market add other cheap metal components to the original pure copper network cable in order to obtain high sales profits, which will reduce the cost of the network cable, but the quality and performance of the network cable itself are quite different. The phenomenon is that the texture of the network cable is no longer so soft and the transmission speed of the network cable is greatly reduced. If such a network cable is bent repeatedly in the wiring process, the copper cable inside the network cable may break. Of course, if you find that the network cable is too soft, you should also pay attention to the possibility that it is a fake and shoddy product.
3. Test the flammability of the network cable.
Generally speaking, the material that constitutes the network cable must be flame retardant, otherwise there will be a fire or something, which will cause heavy losses. Therefore, when you choose the network cable, you must check the flammability of the network cable skin to distinguish the authenticity. In the specific test, you can cut the cable sheath about 2 cm long with scissors, and then burn it with a lighter. The skin of genuine cable will gradually melt and deform under the barbecue of fireworks, but the skin will certainly not burn by itself; If you find that the skin of the network cable can't stand the test of fire and burns at all, you should give up the choice no matter how high the transmission speed of the network cable is. After all, such a network cable is very unsafe in the wiring project, and it will leave great security risks when used. The author once found a genuine network cable and a fake network cable and lit them with a lighter. The results show that after 6 seconds, the genuine network cable only emits white smoke, which gradually melts and deforms with the passage of time, while the fake network cable is easily ignited in less than 2 seconds, accompanied by a lot of black smoke.
4. Test the temperature resistance of network cable.
In the wiring engineering, the requirements for the network cable to resist external temperature changes are quite high, not to mention any environmental changes, at least the network cable can not soften or freeze crack in high and low temperature environment. In order to ensure that the performance of the network cable is not affected in high temperature environment, the skin material used for genuine network cable can withstand the high temperature test of about 50 degrees, and there will be no similar phenomenon that the network cable becomes soft or deformed. If you cut off a short cable sheath and put it next to the stove for a while, and find that the sheath is softer than the normal sheath, it means that the quality of the cable will definitely not be too hard.
5. Identify the signs on the outer skin of the network cable.
When actually selecting the network cable, there is sometimes a lack of testing environment or conditions, and it is impossible to test the quality or material of the network cable by the above methods. You may want to identify the authenticity of the network cable by observing the logo on the skin of the network cable. In general, cable sheaths of regular brands have the model identification and manufacturer's trademark of the cable. For example, the CAT5 mark indicates that the cable is a five-category cable, and the CAT6 mark indicates that the cable is a six-category cable; If there is no sign on the outer skin of the network cable, we should be vigilant and try our best to create conditions to detect and identify the network cable according to the above methods.
6. Test the winding distance of the network cable
Ordinary twisted pair is composed of four groups of intertwined network cables. The so-called winding distance of the network cable is actually the length of a network cable. Usually, people use the winding distance to indicate the tightness of each pair of wires, but in order to minimize the crosstalk between each pair of wires, each pair of wires is often tightly wound counterclockwise, and the winding distance adopted by each pair of wires should not be the same. However, in order to reduce production links and process costs, many profiteers who produce network cables often wind four pairs of wires according to the same winding pitch, and even the winding pitch of many inferior network cables is as high as several centimeters, which greatly increases the crosstalk between pairs and seriously affects the performance of network cables.
7. Test the extensibility of the skin.
Considering that the network cable often needs to be bent when wiring, many regular manufacturers leave some ductility to the skin when making the network cable to ensure that the network cable is not damaged when bending. Therefore, when you pull the regular network cable with both hands, you find that the skin can be extended. If the sheath of the cable is forcibly pulled off, or the sheath cracks under the action of external force, it indicates that there is something wrong with the cable quality.